Skip James lived a life of blues. It’s shown in one of his best songs, “Hard Time Killing Floor Blues,” which is about the Great Depression. James was discovered in the early 1930s and recorded a handful of songs for a record but was soon forgotten by the music industry thanks to the horrible economy. He was rediscovered by the music industry in the early 1960s but died in 1969 and became even more popular after his death. In this week’s video, I cover his great song, “Hard Time Killing Floor Blues,” and salute a great bluesman who lived a hard life.

“Hard Time Killing Floor Blues” speaks so much to me in it’s simplicity and emotion. Delta blues are some of the most emotional blues and this song is a perfect example. Skip James was able to write this song and make you feel his pain and the pain of others. He effectively captured the hard times of a nation during the great depression with this song. “Hard Time Killing Floor Blues” is also completely relevant to today’s issues and economy. This is a song that will always have meaning to people of any generation so I felt it necessary to record my own version to help keep the song alive and maybe bring it to new ears.

Here’s Skip James’ original version of the song.

You can download my recording of “Hard Time Killing Floor Blues” at Bandcamp or Soundcloud for free if you like to add it to your digital music library.

Even though they are a little depressing, songs like these are important because they tell us our history and roots and they also have relevance in every day in age. I’d also like to add that this song may sound sad and have a sad topic but, man, does it feel good to sing.